RIM Playbook gets approval for US government

Research In Motion might be struggling in the consumer market, but they have received certification for use within the U.S. Government.

RIM said that the Playbook now has Federal Information Processing Standard Certification – meaning it can be used within the official federation government agencies. According to RIM, this is the first tablet on the market which has received certification from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Even Apple's iPad has not yet earned the status.

Senior vice president of BlackBerry security at RIM, Scott Totzke said in a statement “This certification demonstrates our continued commitment to meeting the needs of security-conscious organizations and enables the U.S. federal government to buy with confidence knowing that the PlayBook meets their computing policy requirements for protecting sensitive information.”

The Playbook was launched to a mixed reception as reviewers highlighted issues, such as a lack of support for email and calendar. Although there are plans to fix this in the near future.

Sales of the tablet have not yet been released by the company, but they have shipped over 500,000 to retail partners in America. If they can manage to get a foothold in government agencies, it will certainly help to bolster sales.

Kitguru says: The iPad has been adopted as a tool to help lawyers and sales representatives within various companies.

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